Jennifer Martin focuses her practice primarily on first-party property and casualty insurance litigation and appellate work. She advises insurance carriers regarding a broad range of matters, including complex coverage questions, claims handling issues, and allegations of statutory violations and bad faith. Jennifer has decades of experience litigating and negotiating commercial and personal lines insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, and has tried numerous cases to verdict in state and federal court. A great deal of her work has centered on the large volume of claims stemming from the violent weather events in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado. Jennifer’s clients comprise a number of major national carriers. She leverages Wilson Elser’s experience in this tightly regulated, cost-conscious industry to deliver demonstrable value to clients. Jennifer has successfully litigated numerous cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout Texas and surrounding areas.

Areas of Focus

Property & Casualty Bad Faith Litigation
As leader of a litigation team that focuses on defending insurers and adjusters against bad faith claims, Jennifer has the experience and skill necessary to try bad faith cases with multimillion-dollar exposures. However, she considers the strength of her practice to be identifying cost-effective paths to favorable resolution, via either negotiation or dispositive motion practice. 

Appeals
Jennifer has represented clients on a wide variety of civil appellate matters and has argued before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Texas Supreme Court, and numerous intermediate courts of appeal.

    Education

    • Baylor Law School (J.D., 1995)
      • Senior Notes & Comments Editor, Baylor Law Review; Patton, Haltom, Roberts, McWilliams & Greer Law Review Award

    Bar Admissions

    • Texas

    Court Admissions

    • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
    • U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
    • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas
    • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
    • U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas
    • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas
    • U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
    • U.S. District Court, District of New Mexico
    • U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee

    Professional Affiliations

    • Dallas Bar Association

    Awards & Honors

    Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America®, 2026

Events

Jennifer Martin focuses her practice primarily on first-party property and casualty insurance litigation and appellate work. She advises insurance carriers regarding a broad range of matters, including complex coverage questions, claims handling issues, and allegations of statutory violations and bad faith. Jennifer has decades of experience litigating and negotiating commercial and personal lines insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, and has tried numerous cases to verdict in state and federal court. A great deal of her work has centered on the large volume of claims stemming from the violent weather events in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado. Jennifer’s clients comprise a number of major national carriers. She leverages Wilson Elser’s experience in this tightly regulated, cost-conscious industry to deliver demonstrable value to clients. Jennifer has successfully litigated numerous cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout Texas and surrounding areas.

Jennifer Martin

Moran & Neff Deliver One-Two Punch for Homeowner

Jennifer Moran (Partner-Madison, NJ) was successful in a motion for summary judgment in June 2020. The firm’s client owned a home in Ocean County and his son (the plaintiff) fell off an extension ladder while helping his father (the firm’s client) with exterior house painting. The plaintiff suffered a severely broken ankle requiring multiple surgeries and resulting in permanent gait issues. The remaining claims in the case languished during COVID-19 before a trial, which resulted in a “no cause.” The plaintiff appealed the Order granting our client’s Summary Judgment win from 2020 and the no cause for the other defendant. Enter Robert Neff (Of Counsel-Madison, NJ), one of our office’s Appellate gurus, to handle the de novo review!  The Appellate Division issued an Order affirming Summary Judgment and the no cause judgment.

Jennifer Martin and Robert C. Neff Jr.

Martin and Delabar Obtain Dismissal in Coverage and Bad Faith Action

Jennifer Martin (Partner-Dallas) and Tim Delabar (Associate-Dallas) obtained dismissal with prejudice of all claims in an insurance coverage and bad faith action arising from a first-party property claim. After the parties completed an appraisal and our client paid the appraisal award, the insureds and their contractor concluded the cost to repair the building was higher than anticipated. They filed suit against our client alleging that the appraisal should be set aside due to fraud or mistake and asserted causes of action for breach of contract, statutory bad faith under the Texas Insurance Code and DTPA, and violations of the prompt payment of claims statute, seeking more than $2 million in contractual damages, treble damages for bad faith, prompt payment penalty interest and attorney's fees. The plaintiffs’ theory of liability was that our client’s appraiser was acting as its agent for purposes of the appraisal. Jennifer and Tim filed a motion to dismiss arguing to the federal court that, as a matter of law, an appraiser is not an agent and that the plaintiffs failed to plead any facts that would suggest the appraiser in this case was operating in a dual role. They successfully argued that the court could consider emails by the appraisal panel, even though the emails were not attached to the plaintiffs’ complaint, because they were referenced in the complaint and central to the plaintiffs’ claims. The district court’s order relied heavily on these emails in granting judgment for our client. Ultimately, the federal court dismissed all claims with prejudice before the parties engaged in written discovery and before our client incurred significant defense costs. Plaintiffs did not appeal.

Jennifer Martin

Jennifer Martin

Jennifer Martin focuses her practice primarily on first-party property and casualty insurance litigation and appellate work. She advises insurance carriers regarding a broad range of matters, including complex coverage questions, claims handling issues, and allegations of statutory violations and bad faith. Jennifer has decades of experience litigating and negotiating commercial and personal lines insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, and has tried numerous cases to verdict in state and federal court. A great deal of her work has centered on the large volume of claims stemming from the violent weather events in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado. Jennifer’s clients comprise a number of major national carriers. She leverages Wilson Elser’s experience in this tightly regulated, cost-conscious industry to deliver demonstrable value to clients. Jennifer has successfully litigated numerous cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts throughout Texas and surrounding areas.

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